The inventive concept relates to substrate treatment systems and, more particularly, to substrate treatment systems capable of performing a supercritical process.
A supercritical fluid is any substance at a temperature and pressure above its critical point, where distinct liquid and gas phases do not exist. Thus, it has properties of a gas and a liquid. Supercritical processes using the supercritical fluid may be used in the semiconductor industry to obtain various advantages. For example, the supercritical processes may be used for a substrate drying process, a cleaning process, and/or an etching process. When a high-pressure supercritical fluid is supplied into a process chamber, it may rapidly expand. As a result, the temperature and the solubility of the supercritical fluid may be reduced such that a small amount of impurities included in the supercritical fluid may be undesirably condensed or deposited. The condensed or deposited impurities may re-contaminate a substrate. Thus, particle management may be important during the supercritical processes.